


over the setting horizon

by crossbelladonna



Category: Haikyuu!!, Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: M/M, based on S1EP08 of natsume yuujinchou, it's a bittersweet ending, not all of it is angst i promise, poignant feelings for you and you and y
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 06:19:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6893527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossbelladonna/pseuds/crossbelladonna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He doesn’t want to let go of Tadashi’s hand just yet despite everything.<br/>“Just for tonight,” Tadashi echoes Kei’s explanation—the kimono, everything else.<br/>“That’s right,” Kei says. “Then I can finally leave.”<br/>Tadashi squeezes his hand. <i>So many things I want to say.</i><br/>“Kei, I…”<br/>Kei squeezes back and they stop at the edge of the lake, some years ago where they first met.<br/><i>Shut up.</i><br/><i>Yokai?</i><br/>“I know. I heard everything,” he doesn’t regret it either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	over the setting horizon

**Author's Note:**

> this is based on Season 1 Episode 8 of Natsume Yuujinchou!
> 
> ah,, what a good series,, i also weep i assure you

The cicadas are chirping, the warm sunlight not too warm to be uncomfortable, the cool breeze and the shade of the trees. It made a perfect day to be walking about. At least for Hitoka Yachi anyway, her guardian crow perched on her shoulder, who had been complaining about wanting to fly earlier on. Both of them would’ve made an odd picture—a petite girl with a crow the size of a housecat yawning beside her head, but to normal humans watching, they wouldn’t see anything out of place.

Just nothing but a young girl with lovely blonde hair walking through the woods. Nothing out of place.

_After all, her crow is yokai._

But Hitoka Yachi is used to seeing things out of the ordinary. It’s a trait passed on to her by her grandmother and though she doesn’t appreciate it most of the time (there had been several mean yokai!) she’s gotten used to it over the years, knowing when to shut up and not say anything when they’re nearby so as to not arouse suspicion from folk who cannot see, albeit of course, the fact that this has caused her to be quite the worrywart and having less friends than she would’ve wanted.

However, this is not her story and as she wanders around the woods, her crow still cawing complaints, she greets another story to add to her already long list.

 

+

 

The lake they reach in their walk is sparkling in the sunlight, the reflection bright and shimmering and Hitoka is sure it would be cool enough to wade in though she doesn’t actually pursue the thought.

They didn’t encounter a lot of yokai on the way here, they had seen tree spirits who waved at them as they passed by, hands sticky with fruit and had seen harmless, tiny shrine guardians on their way to their shrine, a small palanquin on their shoulders.

“Hitoka, Hitoka!” says Shouyou, Hitoka’s crow who has been wanting to stretch his wings for a while now.

Hitoka laughs softly and nods.

“Not too far, okay?” and she’s barely finished her sentence when Shouyou screeches a triumphant cry and takes off with a loud flapping of wings.

Hitoka hums to herself contentedly and takes a walk around the rim of the lake, watching the fish down below—

—and almost stumbles into someone else while she’s not looking and she jumps in a start when she sees him. He’s staring at the water with an almost morose expression, sitting by the edge of the lake with his knees pulled up against him. Hitoka studies him for a moment before figuring out he’s human.

The boy finally notices Hitoka’s presence and he turns his gaze towards her, puzzled but not angry it seems though Hitoka still lets out a startled squeak.

“G-Good afternoon!” Hitoka stammers.

The boy smiles in return. “Good afternoon.”

He’s got a fine dusting of freckles on his face and his hair, a dark brown, has a noticeable cowlick. He seems to be a few years older than Hitoka though he still looks pretty young.

“Are you here to watch the fireflies?” The boy wants to know.

Hitoka blinks. “The fireflies?”

The boy nods, smile gentle.

“Yes. They come out here. Though…” he looks back at the lake now and his expression goes back the way he did. Lonely. Fond, maybe. “we might be a little early in time and season-wise. They’ve also gone down in number for quite some time now.”

Hitoka’s about to reply when she hears the distinct flapping of wings though her companion doesn’t hear them and she looks up to see Shouyou hovering above her and gesturing to the boy with his beak.

_Then she sees it—_

There’s an almost translucent yokai hiding beside the boy, making itself smaller so that Hitoka can’t really see it well. She can see however, its mask with a character that she can’t read.

“A-Ah, I see. That’s too bad. I should just…get going then.” Hitoka tells the boy who nods at her.

Shouyou lands on her head when she starts walking away.

“That was creepy,” Shouyou says.

“Do you think it possessed him?” Hitoka whispers to him fretfully.

Shouyou shrugs his wings. “Perhaps it did. Do you want to do something about it?”

“Well—”

They hear a distinct rustling by their left, back into the woods and they both freeze, turning to look.

It’s the yokai, no longer translucent this time and Hitoka finds that it’s also a boy, with short blond hair, his face covered by the mask and wearing a yukata. He’s quite tall too, even taller now that he’s slightly hovering above ground.

Hitoka squeaks inwardly when the yokai floats towards her.

“You…,” he says, reaching out a hand to her. “You can see me? Even if you’re human?”

Shouyou spreads his wings and caws.

“Run!”

Hitoka doesn’t know if she squealed or if it’s the wind but she runs as fast as her legs can take her, Shouyou flying above her and she looks back as she runs, feeling faint when she sees that the yokai is easily catching up to her, zooming through the air and Hitoka just about has a heart attack when she doesn’t realize her feet slipping towards a steep ravine.

She’s sure the screaming definitely came from her this time. She closes her eyes as she falls.

“Ah!”

Hitoka gasps, realizing someone is holding up her hand and she’s not falling anymore.

The yokai is looking down at her, holding her hand in place.

“Silly, careless human.” He says.

 

+

 

“Th-Thank you for earlier,” Hitoka stammers. “Sorry for running away.”

They’re in her room now, Hitoka offering the yokai some sake she keeps for occasions like these though she doesn’t drink it herself. She sets a cup for Shouyou on the window too; he’s gone out again like he always does at night.

“It’s okay,” The yokai says, lifting his mask just the slightest to drink from his cup.

“Is it alright for you to be here?” Hitoka asks. “Weren’t you possessing the boy from the lake?”

The yokai seems to stare right at her, bewildered.

“Possessing?” he scoffs. “I’ve forgotten how rude humans are. He’s my friend.”

Hitoka immediately feels a stab of embarrassment, bowing down in anguish.

“Your friend! I’m so sorry! Here I go again, assuming things ahh—”

The yokai waves a hand flippantly. “It doesn’t matter.”

Hitoka sits up once more, tilting her head.

“Wait if he’s human, then he can see yokai too?” She’s so longed for someone to talk to about them! There doesn’t seem to be anyone real enough.

The yokai exhales. “It’s a long story. We used to talk to each other when he was younger. We were always together back then. It seems he was bullied for seeing things no one else can. But then one day he couldn’t see me anymore. And here we are.”

“Couldn’t…see you anymore?” Hitoka’s heart feels like it’s dropped to her stomach. It sounds awfully sad, losing your friend just like that. She could almost cry—

The yokai sighs. “Don’t cry.”

Hitoka sniffs furiously. “I’m not! J-Just something in my eye, anyway! Can that even happen? Can losing that sight happen?”

They both hear a faint popping noise and they turn to the window to see that Shouyou has come back, now in his more human form, looking like a boy with wild orange hair, not much taller than Hitoka by comparison and he’s got tufts of feathers by his shoulders, on his back a pair of strong black wings.

He’s holding the cup of sake for him now, grinning as he waves at Hitoka.

“It can happen! When humans become adults powers like those become weaker,” he explains.

Hitoka looks down.

“I see. So those things happen.”

When the yokai speaks again, his voice is fond, almost like the tone the boy from the lake used.

“I heard he’s getting married soon,” he says, softly. “so I thought I could see him before that. But ah,” he rubs the back of his neck. “I guess it’s going to have to be one-sided.”

Hitoka feels like crying again so she moves the topic aside.

“What’s your name?” she asks, feeling proud that she didn’t stammer.

The yokai, even if Hitoka couldn’t see, seems to smirk.

“Try guessing.”

“Eh? Uhh…,” Hitoka crosses her arms in deep thought.

“Mask!” Shouyou guesses enthusiastically and the yokai smirks even more, shaking his head no.

“Blondie?” he guesses again. Another shake. “Lake ghost?” Another shake.

“It’s like you’re not even trying,” The yokai laughs.

Shouyou grumbles loudly. “Then _what is it?_ ”

“I’m a low-level Ayakashi,” The yokai scoffs. “I didn’t even have a name in the first place.”

“Eh! You’re teasing!”

“I am not,” he says, leaving Shouyou to continue protesting by the window as he looks at Hitoka again. “I didn’t even think I could speak to another human again.”

“It must have been so lonely!” Hitoka says earnestly.

The yokai looks away. “Well,”

“Blondie can stay here until the wedding is over,” Shouyou suggests, grinning smugly.

“My name is not Blondie—”

Hitoka claps her hands happily.

“That’s a wonderful idea! It must be sad being alone at the lake after all!”

The yokai says it so quietly Hitoka isn’t sure she heard it at all.

“I wasn’t always alone.”

 

Later, Hitoka somehow finds herself waking deep into the night and she looks at Shouyou beside her, now back as a crow snoring softly. She finds, by the window, the yokai they had met earlier during the day. He’s staring outside, all silent and he’s radiating a very soft glow.

 _A dull radiance_ , is Hitoka’s last thought before she drifts to sleep again.

 

+

 

That night, she dreams of dull, glowing lights.

_Kou. Light._

A name?

 

+

 

Hitoka wakes up to a faceful of Shouyou’s feathers, probably having changed into his other form while he was asleep and she shoves his wing away quite indignantly.

“Shouyou! Wake up! Move your wings away!”

Shouyou does move, though he doesn’t wake up, only rolling over to sleep some more, arms outstretched.

Hitoka hears a rather honest chuckle, directed at Shouyou and probably meant to rile him up and Hitoka sits up to see the yokai from yesterday sitting by the window.

She grins. “Kou-chan!”

The yokai immediately stops laughing.

“Er…Kou-chan?”

“Hmm! I think you don’t remember your name so let’s call you Kou for now!” Hitoka beams. “How’s that?”

Kou is quiet for a moment, looking outside and running a hand through his hair, careful not to displace his mask.

“It’s not bad,” he says.

 

Hitoka goes back to the woods after work, wanting to see the lake again. Shouyou skips ahead of her, pointing at the other birds he finds in the trees.

“Oh, did you know,” Shouyou says suddenly, facing Hitoka as he walks backwards. “There’s a story around here, about a mountain god in this forest.”

Hitoka leans forward eagerly.

“A mountain god?”

“Right! A mountain god who fell in love with a human and they’d meet secretly at night, the fireflies in the pond lighting their way in the darkness. To thank them, the mountain god turned them into ayakashi,”

“To make them live longer,” Hitoka guesses.

Shouyou nods. “Correct. But in their joy, the fireflies left and the fireflies left here are said to be the descendants of those who stayed.” Shouyou grins. “But that’s how the legend goes.”

“Legends are always half-real aren’t they?” Hitoka asks.

Shouyou shrugs, jumping once and with a pop and a flutter of wings, turns back into a crow, perching on her head.

Hitoka is surprised to see the boy she met by the lake yesterday in the same spot he sat and she doesn’t know if she should go say hi when Shouyou stomps on her head softly.

“Look at the lake!”

And she does and nearly shouts in a fright as she always does when she sees yokai that suddenly appear out of nowhere.

This yokai is _enormous_ , rising out of the lake water with a great, echoing hum and it opens its mouth, as large as a tree and goes straight forward to the boy by the lake.

Needless to say, Hitoka shrieks.

“Look out!” she screams, running forward and Shouyou squawks as he falls off her head.

The boy by the lake sees her for a split-second, surprise written all over his face as Hitoka keeps running at him, not being able to brace herself quite well and ends up tumbling forward, colliding with the boy with a yell.

Hitoka sits up immediately, clutching her arm, her heart pounding very much so.

“O-Ouch,”

The boy sits up too now, looking baffled but he seems unharmed.

“Ah!” he exclaims suddenly and Hitoka freezes. “You’re the one from yesterday!”

Her gears kick in and then she’s standing, bowing in apology.

“I’m so sorry! I was—there was—I tripped over something!”

But the boy stands up, shaking his head and laughing.

“It’s okay, don’t panic. You just startled me.”

Hitoka blinks. “Y-Yeah,” _He really didn’t see._ “I’m so sorr—!”

The boy grins. “It’s fine.”

_He really didn’t see?_

“Sorry,” she says softly, one last time for effect. “Um, may I ask—is there anything in this lake?”

The boy raises his eyebrows.

“Anything? Well, aside from the fireflies there’s carp I suppose.”

Hitoka looks over the lake. The enormous yokai is still there though it’s closed its mouth and almost looks like it’s smiling. It’s swimming around in circles lazily, apparently not quite interested with the human after all.

“I-I see. Thank you,” Hitoka tells him, bowing once before she steps aside to go and she sees the boy waving at her as she walks away.

 

“That ayakashi doesn’t attack people, you know,” Shouyou says once he’s walking alongside her again.

Hitoka sighs. “You should’ve told me.”

“You didn’t ask him if he could see yokai,”

Hitoka looks behind her. The boy is sitting again, staring at the lake.

“I think I didn’t have to.”

They don’t make it very far it turns out because they hear rustling once more and sees Kou stepping out of the bushes.

“Ah, hello, Kou-chan,” Hitoka says.

 

+

 

They stay on the other side of the lake, hiding them from the boy’s view though they could see him just fine. Shouyou had set up a makeshift fishing rod to catch some carp though Hitoka knows he can catch them just fine even without it.

“His name is Tadashi,” Kou tells them, unprompted and Hitoka listens.

“Long ago when he could see, he suffered a lot from the stares he got from his family and peers. Tadashi who kept insisting there are things when there aren’t there, they said,” Kou continues, exhaling almost tiredly. “He would come by here to cry and my first thought when I saw him was ‘pathetic human’ it was hardly polite.”

He laughs breathily and Hitoka smiles.

“Eventually he kept doing it all the time, coming here to cry and after keeping quiet I stepped out and told him to shut up.”

Shouyou pauses his business of catching fish to make a face at him.

“No wonder he’s your only friend!”

“Sh-Shouyou—”

Kou scoffs. “Speak for yourself, chibi.”

“How dare you call me, a great crow yokai, a chibi—”

Hitoka holds her hands up, distressed.

“G-Guys, let’s not fight, Kou-chan you were saying…?”

Kou huffs. “Anyway, it had been at night when I told him to shut up and I realized my mistake. I couldn’t quite hide away quickly, me glowing and all so I didn’t move, waiting for him to run.”

‘Yokai?’ he said, sounding sad, probably because it confirmed all the things the people around called him, those nasty names. He walked away then and I stopped trying to hide, stepping out and scoffed at him.

‘Tell them off,’ I told him. ‘You’re more talented than them, you know.’ The last bit was partly a bluff to get him to do it after all he can’t keep on pretending those things they called him were fine.”

Kou chuckles softly. “And then he sat back down and started crying again. He was an easy crier, Tadashi.”

“He didn’t do it?” Hitoka wants to know.

Kou tilts his mask to the right and for the first time, Hitoka sees his smile.

“No. He was pretty stubborn. But he came by the next day, looking relieved when he saw me. I scolded him. Told him not to come back if he didn’t do it,”

“He came back anyway!” Shouyou supplies, gestures as broad as his grin. “Humans are very persistent.”

Kou nods. “He did. We talked about a lot of things, always made sure to come back every day that I started to look for him at times when he didn’t. I learned to sympathize with a human then. Learned about humanity a lot more than what I expected to learn.”

He rights his mask again and even if Hitoka can’t see, she knows his gaze is pretty far away.

“And then that one day came when he couldn’t see me. Not even when I was standing right in front of him,” he looks at Hitoka almost wondering. “I wonder if you’ll be unable to see us one day?”

Hitoka gasps softly, a hand over her chest. “It might make me sad if it’ll happen so suddenly.”

Shouyou takes out the fishing rod, successfully catching a fish.

“Do you regret it?” he wonders aloud.

Kou merely stares. “I’m glad he came back each time.”

 

+

 

When Hitoka sees Tadashi again, she stops a bit further away when she sees Kou leaning against him, unseen by his friend, his love, Hitoka believes.

_It’s a poignant feeling._

Later when Tadashi moves to go, she waits for him just where she’s standing.

“Oh, it’s you,” Tadashi says when he sees her, wondering.

Hitoka gives him her brightest smile.

_Why do you keep going back to the lake?_

 

“So you can see ayakashi too, huh.”

Hitoka nods. “Hmm,”

They’re sitting side by side on one of the benches they find just outside the woods. Shouyou is watching them nearby, perched on the tree, tilting his head every now and then.

“I recently met someone,” Hitoka says. “who told me you could once see them.”

Tadashi seems taken by surprise for a few moments before leaning back.

“It all seems like a dream. It seems as though I drifted through it. The bullying. The weird shapes I used to see by my window. I was pretty scrawny, so easily picked on.” He covers his face with his hands.

“But I was able to get along with one ayakashi. He was rather mean at times,” he laughs, almost sadly. “but he was always there when I needed someone to talk to. I came to like him, but I couldn’t say it.”

He removes his hands, smiling at Hitoka.

“I loved him, actually.”

Hitoka nods earnestly. Tadashi smiles on, exhaling slowly.

“Then I suddenly couldn’t see them anymore—the ayakashi. I never got to tell him. And that was it.”

I couldn’t just forget about it so I couldn’t move on for a long time. But then the time came when I found someone I could love again,” he looks up to the sky, over the setting horizon, the sun making it a bright gold and orange. “It doesn’t mean you can forget.”

“You…You’re to wed soon,” Hitoka says.

“Ah, that’s right. In three days,” Tadashi sounds happy at the mention of it. “I’ll stop coming here then.”

Hitoka relaxes. “I’m glad you’re happy.”

“Thank you,” Tadashi says sincerely, stretching his legs to stand. “Well, I better go. You too. Don’t stay out too late. See you again!”

Hitoka waves at him as he goes, Shouyou soaring towards her and landing on her shoulder and they watch Tadashi leave.

They hear a familiar sigh and they both turn their heads to see a familiar dull glow.

“Thank goodness,” Kou whispers.

Hitoka bolts up from her seat, surprised.

“Kou-chan!”

Kou doesn’t seem to be listening.

“He’s not alone anymore,” he says, watching him leave.

“Kou-chan,” Hitoka says again though she has nothing left to say.

_Are you okay with that?_

+

 

Night comes with pleasant, memory-like dreams, of emotions almost too private that Hitoka’s not sure she should be seeing them, though this time, in Kou’s own memories.

 

 _This stupid human_ , Kei thinks. Kei, his name is Kei. _Hotaru, of fireflies._

The human is here again, crying unpleasantly and from his recent visits, Kei had gotten around to knowing that this one is fleeing, the easiest defense humans seem to have.

 _Bullied because he sees yokai._ Can’t he fight back? Surely he could fight back, but Kei thinks, ah he’s too small. Too scrawny. _Probably scared._

When he comes back and the night is dark, Kei’s fingers, glowing softly, tighten around the branch he’s holding on.

“Shut up,” he says by accident, too loudly and the human turns his head to him instantly and Kei freezes, looking at brown eyes and brown freckles. Too late to run.

“Yokai?” As though the mask doesn’t give it away enough.

_My first mistake._

-

 

“Why are you here again? Didn’t I tell you to go run towards those enemies of yours and tell them off?” Kei is a little irritated. The human is here again even though the sun is still up high.

The human, he notices, is also smiling quite widely, looking up at him.

“I’m Tadashi,” he says and Kei frowns. Tadashi. Ta-da-shi.

“You should leave,” Kei says, leaning against the tree he favors.

But Tadashi remains, sitting down even when Kei climbs up the tree, far higher than Tadashi could reach.

“I like it better here,” Tadashi says.

 

-

 

Kei is both aghast and fascinated by the sparkler Tadashi is holding rather proudly.

“It’s great, right? Right?” Tadashi says. “My mom gave a whole set to me for our next shrine visit but I thought you’d like to see it.”

“You should listen to your mother,” Kei says though he’s glad he didn’t.

Tadashi lights another sparkler, smiling and handing one to Kei who holds it gingerly but with amazement.

“Do you listen to your mother, too?” Tadashi wants to know and Kei raises an eyebrow.

“My family has left long ago,” Kei tells him. “Fireflies are short-lived.”

Tadashi looks very troubled he brought it up.

“Sorry,” he mumbles and Kei tilts his head wondering how this could be so saddening.

“It’s okay.”

 

-

 

“Tadashi, you do realize I’m taller than you are.”

“Okay, but I brought it all the way here! It’s a waste if we don’t try it at least once!”

Kei is still having qualms. Riding a bicycle was one thing especially since he didn’t know how to. Riding behind someone tinier than him on a rather fragile-looking human contraption because he knows how to seems like another thing as well.

“You can hold on to my shoulders,” Tadashi grins, patting his shoulders in demonstration.

“If we both fall down I’m going to let that ayakashi in the lake eat you up.”

“Eh?! You said it doesn’t eat humans!”

“I can convince him.”

“ _But Kei_ —”

Despite all of Kei’s qualms however, they didn’t fall not even once. It was quite fun actually, feeling the wind in his hair as they rush down the slope of the forest, hearing Tadashi’s laughter close to his ears, his hands on his shoulders.

Everything feels very warm.

 

-

 

“Kei!”

Kei takes his mask off, letting out a bug that has somehow crawled up inside it, much to his irritation.

“Kei, look what I made—oh!”

Kei looks up, the sun even brighter somehow even with Tadashi blocking it. He seems pretty stunned, looking down at Kei who’s sitting on the grass.

He raises an eyebrow. “What?”

Tadashi blinks. “Oh, I just…it’s my first time seeing you with your mask off,” he laughs sheepishly.

Kei feels a rush of warmth flood his face though he doesn’t understand why. He huffs but doesn’t put his mask back on.

“What, did you think it was stuck to my face or something?”

Tadashi laughs again, sitting right next to him, gazing at his face with such interest that Kei feels oddly self-conscious.

“Well maybe—ah, your eyes are _really_ gold!”

Kei stares at the grass with a great intensity that he thinks it might wilt away.

“Y-You were going to tell me something?”

Tadashi grins, nodding.

“I did! Look!” and on his arm is a circlet made of beautiful white flowers. “Pretty isn’t it?”

“You made it?” Kei blinks.

“Yeah, let me put it on you,” Tadashi chuckles, carefully putting it on Kei’s head so the flowers won’t break off. “Ah! It looks great on you Kei!”

Kei finds himself smiling before putting his mask back on his face.

“Thank you.”

 

-

 

It had been a terrible day from the start. Raining too hard, the fireflies couldn’t fly.

“Kei! Kei! _Kei!_ ” shouts a broken voice that rattles Kei’s core.

_I’m right in front of you._

Tadashi looks stricken, breaking down and falling onto his knees even when it’s muddy.

“I can’t see you! Please come out!”

_I’m right here._

“ _Kei!_ ” Tadashi’s crying again, Kei realizes. It’s been so long since he had. “Don’t _leave_ —”

Kei’s hands ball into fists, teeth grinding together. _I’m right here._

“Kei,” Tadashi chokes. “ _Kei,_ ”

_Why? Why was I born like this?_

 

He comes back the next day, and the next, and the next.

_It’s gone colder._

Kei stands next to him, immobile, watches as Tadashi looks straight on to the slowly freezing lake. The ayakashi living there has gone to sleep. Either way, he can no longer see it now.

Kei freezes when Tadashi speaks again, after keeping silent for so long.

“Please, come out,” he says like a whisper, like a crow’s sorrowful song.

Kei steps forward to face him, removing his mask.

“Do you hate me now?” Grieving.

Kei throws his mask away. “No. I’m right here.”

Tadashi hugs his knees close. “Please, come back,”

“ _I’m right here!_ ” Kei didn’t know crying could sting so bad, like a stream as he cries his indignation. _I’m right here, I’d never leave you._

“Do you hate me now?” Tadashi buries his face into his hands and Kei falls to his knees, shaking his head, tears nipping at his cheeks.

“I love you,” Kei leans forward, taking Tadashi into his arms even if he doesn’t feel it. “I love you. _Tadashi, I don’t hate you_ ,”

“Come back, Kei, please—”

Kei closes his eyes. “I’m right here.”

_I love you, let the horizon see._

The lights are gone and when Hitoka opens her eyes, Kou— _Kei—_ is staring right at her, _hovering_ rather, a finger touching her open palm.

Kei moves away politely when Hitoka sits up, rubbing her eyes. She’s been crying too, it seems.

“I’m a firefly ayakashi,” Kei says quietly and Hitoka nods.

“I heard it,” Hitoka says. “Your name. It’s Kei isn’t it?”

Kei hovers away to the window, not saying anything.

Hitoka stands, understanding somehow. “You’re planning to leave!”

Kei nods. “It won’t last very long but I can turn into a firefly, just one time.”

Shouyou sits up, suddenly, apparently awake this entire time. He doesn’t turn to face them, ruffling his wings.

“You won’t be able to keep that form. Turn into a bug again and you’ll die as a bug.”

Hitoka gasps in horror.

“Kei, no!”

They hear a scoff but his voice is soft when he speaks.

“It doesn’t matter,” his mask starts to fall, Hitoka notices. It slowly disperses, eaten away by green fire. “Even without me, he will continue to laugh.”

His eyes are the same gold Hitoka saw in her dreams

Hitoka waves her arms around wildly, in a panic.

“Wait, wait! Stop! You have to see him first!”

Kei raises an eyebrow, looking amused.

“He can’t see me, Hitoka. That won’t matter; I’ll see him as a firefly either way.”

Hitoka looks very distressed.

“No, no! Please wait, there has to be something we can do we can—Shouyou! What are you doing!”

Shouyou’s currently rummaging around Hitoka’s lowest drawer, things flying in random directions as he searches for what he’s looking for.

“I like scavenging things,” he says, a matter-of-factly.

Hitoka already feels like biting her nails. “Yes, but now’s not the time—”

“Found it!” Shouyou suddenly cries out in success, and from the drawer, he pulls out a long kimono, the color of the setting sun. Shouyou sighs in relief. “It’s a good thing I forgot to use this. You can only use it once.”

“A kimono?” Hitoka holds her breath.

Shouyou turns to them finally, smiling bright.

“I got it from the Futaba Festival a long, long time ago! It was a big win. I can’t believe I forgot about this until now—”

Kei sighs irritably.

“Get to the point, chibi,”

“The POINT IS!” Shouyou says over him loudly, frowning. He waves the yukata in his hand. “Whoever wears this yukata gets to appear like a human for a night. Think about it before turning into a bug.”

“A-Ah! Hand it over, Shouyou!” Hitoka squeals, rushing over.

“Human…for a night,” Kei mumbles.

Hitoka dashes towards him, Kei freezing when Hitoka puts the kimono around him determinedly.

“Yes! One night! Tonight!” Hitoko exclaims in a high-pitched voice. “You’re going to see him tonight!”

Kei blinks, looking at his hands, his usual glow fading. “B-But I—”

Hitoka blanches. “Oh no! Shouyou we don’t know where he lives!”

Shouyou looks back at her, orange eyes shining with unwavering determination.

“I gave you that so you could see him didn’t I?” he says in utter seriousness, his dark, dark wings spreading. “If I say you’ll see him, _you will_.” He flaps his wings in a great gush of wind.

Hitoka lets out a startled squeak as she scrambles for the window.

“The window!” Kei steps aside and they don’t even see Shouyou zooming out of it, moving out in a flash and Hitoka is bouncing on her heels.

“Kei! We have to follow him!” she screeches, grabbing Kei’s hand as she starts climbing out the window.

Kei is pretty aghast. “What are you doing?”

Hitoka smacks her hand against the wall.

“What do you think?! Let’s get going!”

Kei clicks his tongue. “You are going to _fall._ ” He pulls her back inside and steps out first, hovering like he does so, an ability that thankfully didn’t disappear and Hitoka thinks he hears him mumble _silly human_ under his breath.

Kei holds his arms out. “I’m going to catch you.”

To say that Hitoka is terrified of falling is an understatement but she closes her eyes and swallows a tiny scream as she jumps off the window, feeling the rush of wind for a second before landing on cool arms.

She gathers her wits quickly, taking care not to look down.

“L-Let’s go, Kei-kun! Follow Shouyou—hurry!”

 

+

 

If normal humans would look out their windows in this time of night, they would see a girl floating by with seemingly no support. It would definitely cause quite the gossip and a whole lot of trouble.

“Don’t worry,” Kei assures at some point. “They’re all asleep.”

He’s flying into the night speedily, following the sound of Shouyou’s wings until they stop at the very last house, surprisingly close to where the trail leading to the lake lies.

“He’s here,” Kei whispers, setting Hitoka down though he still hovers beside her, eyes wide with nervousness and excitement and terror. The yukata hangs around him quite largely as though he’s trying to look small.

Shouyou, still a crow, is making a large scene, cawing loudly and Hitoka’s not sure if Tadashi could hear it but it still makes her anxious.

“Shouyou!” she whispers harshly. “You’ll wake the neighbors!”

Shouyou doesn’t take the hint, flying around one window in particular, the one Hitoka assumes would be Tadashi’s bedroom.

To Hitoka’s utmost horror, Shouyou slams himself against the window and it rattles loudly and she’s not sure even those without the sight can sleep through that.

Shouyou looks like he’s about to slam against the window again and Hitoka lets out a tiny _eep_. They watch in anticipation as Shouyou rushes towards the window—

—and the window slams open, Shouyou rushing inside with a yell and a loud flapping of wings.

Hitoka’s squeal comes out as a terrified hiss. “ _SHOUYO—_ ”

Someone peers outside looking confused and bewildered and Hitoka swallows the rest of her words, feeling Kei freeze beside her.

“Who…?” Tadashi narrows his eyes, vision adjusting to the darkness.

“Who is it, Tadashi?” they hear another voice, definitely a man’s and it’s gentle and curious.

 _His fiancé._ Hitoka thinks, eyeing Kei but Kei doesn’t seem to be thinking anything else but the man peering out the window.

“Ah, hold on it’s—” Tadashi sees Hitoka then and she sees his eyebrows raise in recognition.

And then his eyes fall on the person beside her and his breath leaves him, mouth falling ajar as he stares at the golden eyes of the person he had longed to see all this time.

“A friend,” Tadashi says, hands trembling and it’s a wonder he can still stand. “it’s a friend I’ve longed to see. For a long time,” he tells his fiancé, smiling warmly. “I’ll be right back.”

 

When Tadashi disappears from the window, Shouyou zooms out of it just before it closes, flapping his wings awkwardly, already mumbling complaints and Hitoka can only assume Tadashi is rushing towards them.

Beside her, Kei starts to relax.

“I’m okay now,” he starts to move back and Hitoka grabs his arm again.

“Wait! You can’t go! You have to see hi—”

A pattering of footsteps.

“Kei…?”

Kei steps forward and Hitoka immediately lets him go.

Tadashi has his hands covering half of his face, his eyes shining with tears.

“I just want to see you before,” Kei breathes. “your ceremony.”

Tadashi shakes his head, definitely tears on his face and Hitoka steps away from them to give the space. Shouyou has shut up too, now preening on her head.

“I,” Kei continues, voice shaking. “I’m sorry I couldn’t—”

Tadashi dashes towards him, cutting off Kei’s words as Tadashi crashes against him in an embrace.

“ _Kei,_ ” his voice comes out like a sharp breath, shoulders shaking as he cries, his fingers curling on the material of the kimono Kei is wearing.

With arms no matter how hesitant, he curls them around the only person he’d give up this form for.

“Tadashi,” Kei says into Tadashi’s hair, smelling faintly of strawberries.

“It was me, it was my fault,” Tadashi says almost hurriedly. “One day, I couldn’t see and you were gone, all the others too and—”

“I never left,” Kei says and Tadashi pulls away just a moment to look at him. Kei believes he’d be at peace if his expression is the last thing he sees. “I was always there.”

 

They walk to the lake, Hitoka and Shouyou lagging behind as slowly as they can and Kei feels a rush of gratefulness crashing on to him. For the kimono, for the talk, for this.

He doesn’t want to let go of Tadashi’s hand just yet despite everything.

“Just for tonight,” Tadashi echoes Kei’s explanation—the kimono, everything else.

“That’s right,” Kei says. “Then I can finally leave.”

Tadashi squeezes his hand. _So many things I want to say._

“Kei, I…”

Kei squeezes back and they stop at the edge of the lake, some years ago where they first met.

_Shut up._

_Yokai?_

“I know. I heard everything,” he doesn’t regret it either. “It’s just a shame you couldn’t hear mine.”

Tadashi takes a deep breath.

“You know I wanted to,”

Kei smiles, looking over at him now.

“Yeah. It’s not your fault. Being human is complicated, I know that as much.”

“Kei—”

Brown eyes he sees every day. The freckles he will miss.

“Be happy,” he tells him, holding both of Tadashi’s hands. “I love you. Be happy, that’s all I ask.”

“Kei,” Tadashi sounds choked, watching as Kei’s hand start to glow the same way they had when he could still see. Kei pulls him into an embrace again so he doesn’t have to see.

“I’ll always be where the fireflies are,”

There’s a fleeting flash of light as dawn colors the sky purple and Tadashi closes his eyes, feels the rush of the wind, the kimono remaining in his arms as he sinks on the grass, looking over the rising horizon.

Hitoka appears by the bushes, her crow unseen to him, crooning a morning song. Hitoka waves at him when their eyes meet.

“Thank you,” Tadashi says.

 

+

 

The night of his wedding, he hears a soft caw and the world is alight with the glow of fireflies.

**Author's Note:**

> fireflies are so nice. i remember in my province i'd see a bunch of them in the trees and my grandmother would say those are tree spirits. tsuk is with them now.
> 
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